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Memorial Service for Bill Schreyer Announced

A memorial service honoring Bill Schreyer, one of Penn State’s most storied philanthropists, will be held this weekend in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.

The event will begin at 2:00 pm on Sunday and will include remarks from those who knew Schreyer well, including Schreyer Honors College Dean Christian Brady (@shcdean) and head football coach Joe Paterno.

Schreyer made headlines with his $30 million donation to create the Schreyer Honors College (and his later $25 million follow-up), but his most broad impact on the university might have been two decades ago when he spearhead the Grand Destiny campaign, which raised $1.371 billion for the university. The Grand Destiny campaign was also chaired by Paterno, Ed Hintz, and Art Nagle. The speech GSpan made in 2003 on the conclusion of the 7-year fundraising effort is an interesting read for more background info.

The Honors College is also very much built in accordance with Schreyer’s vision– that’s donor intent for you. Brady and Schreyer maintained a close relationship through the years, with the man who served on the boards of organizations with a combined net worth larger than some companies checking in on the few thousand students who benefitted from his gift.

The Schreyer family will be hosting an open reception in the Mount Nittany Club at Beaver Stadium. The Penn State Live article notes, “Those who will be attending the events are asked to e-mail their plans to [email protected]. Please contact Brenda Walker at [email protected] or 814-863-4826 with any questions.”

To paraphrase Mark Twain: The reports of higher education’s death have been an exaggeration. American universities produce more research and relevant knowledge for the world at large than any other institutions I know of. Tuition may be too damn high, but over the long-run, undergraduate degrees are definitely worth the cost. But Penn State could be so much more. It used to be, I think.